Title of Session: Sea to ForkLength of Session: 50 minutes, May 11, 2017 from 9:45 am to 10:35 am

Educational Objective: To learn about innovative sustainable local food systems strategies that connect seafood caught by local fishermen or harvested through innovative sea farms to both direct sales to the public and to local restaurant chefs.

Description of Session: This moderated session will feature a panel of experts who discuss how innovative sustainable seafood systems are connecting people to locally caught and harvested seafood. The discussion will first feature a discussion about innovative seafood farming in the ocean followed by a discussion on how local fishermen are selling direct to the public at local fishermen markets that can now be established right at the dock. The session will close by discussing innovative business models that connect locally fresh caught seafood to restaurant chefs.

Anticipated Educational Outcomes: 1) To increase knowledge about innovative sea farming strategies that can help lead to a more sustainable sea food system. 2) To learn more about public and fishermen’s perceptions about direct marketing from fishermen docks. 3) To learn about seafood distribution systems and business models that can connect local fishermen to local restaurants.

Qualifications of speakers/presenters:

1. Speaker: Sarah Rathbone: Dock to Dish’s Co-Founder and Director of Operations Sarah Rathbone t discuss Dock to Dish and the important role of well-managed local seafood in an environmentally responsible seafood supply. Sarah Rathbone grew up on the shores of Cape Cod, where she developed her initial love of and fascination with everything marine. After working with commercial fishermen to collect data for her master’s thesis, she took to the high seas aboard a commercial lobster boat, the FV March Gale, as full-time crew. After realizing the expansive and unnecessary gap between the people who catch the fish and the people who love to eat it, she launched a Community Supported Fishery program to bring fish directly from the fishermen to her local consumer community. This program has evolved into her current partnership with Dock to Dish, which is the first Restaurant Supported Fishery in the U.S. Through Dock to Dish, Rathbone connects top chef members in Los Angeles to their local sustainable fishermen, providing complete traceability and the best seafood available within 24 hours of it hitting the dock.

2. Speaker: Theresa Sinicrope Talley: Coastal Specialist with the California Sea Grant (CASG) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. Theresa has been a Coastal Specialist with CASG since summer of 2012. She earned a PhD in Ecology from UC Davis (2005) and has been working in the field of Coastal Ecology since she was an undergraduate in the late 1980’s. Photo already on file/website.

3. Speaker: Kelly Stromberg serves as Director of Aquaculture Operations of Catalina Sea Ranch, LLC and coordinates all R&D contracts, ranch operations, and sales and marketing . Kelly developed her marine biology skills during an internship at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, where she successfully reared hybrid Bay and Sea Scallops, Bay Scallops, and oysters, she also experimented with American Lobster hatchery habitat. She completed her senior research project on mate choice in guppies, studying their visual mate choice when given options of different colors, size and tail variations. After attending Washburn University, Kelly worked at Carlsbad Aquafarm for 4 years, spawning mussels and oysters, growing algae, processing mussels as well as conducting logistics and administrative duties. In February 2014 Kelly joined CSR as Hatchery Manager, and now oversees the aquaculture operations for the facility.

4. Moderator: Liz Pozzebon: A local Environmental Health Director with over 25 years of experience in the field of Environmental and Occupational Health. She worked collaboratively with seafood stakeholders and various regulators to develop language for A newer law – AB 226, also known as Pacific to Plate – allowing fishermen to organize like farmers’ markets so they can more easily sell directly to the public. AB 226 was signed by Governor Jerry Brown in October 2015.